House report
429 S 20th St
4 bd · 4 ba · 3 stories · 2,130 sqft · RM1 · built 1800
Owner-occupied · assessed $1.3M · sold 2×. On the 400 block of S 20th St.
Reading this house's deeds, permits and assessments…
What to do with this
The record, translated into moves — what a buyer, the owner, and a landlord would each want to check next under Philadelphia's actual rules.
If you’re buying
Today's $7,005/yr reflects a 10-year abatement. It jumps to about $17,513/yr in 2029 — $10,508/yr more. Price the full bill, not the current one.
Federal law requires a lead-paint disclosure at sale for any pre-1978 home. If it will be rented, Philadelphia also requires a lead-safe or lead-free certificate before a rental license can issue.
If you own it
An abated home cannot also take the Homestead Exemption. From 2029 it can — knocking about $1,400/yr off the full bill.
Derived from this house's public records and the city's rules as of 2026 (abatement ordinance, Homestead, rental licensing, lead certification, L&I process, excavation protections). Informational only — not legal, tax, or investment advice.
The investment read
How this house has moved and where it's pointed: the city's assessed value (not a listing price) over 12 years, charted against its block; appreciation is that history's pace, and the 5-year figure simply extends it. Yield estimates rent-vs-price from area rents. Ask the analyst below to dig into any number.
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
Bought for $475K in 2017, built new under a 2017 permit (tax-abated), sold for $1.2M in 2019.
- 2016 2 L&I violationsL&IInspection failedL&I visit
- 2017 L&I: 1 failed, 1 passedL&I visit$475KSoldDemolitionPermit
- 2018 ZoningPermitAdditionPermitPlumbingPermitMechanicalPermitPlumbingPermit
- 2019 ElectricalPermit$1.2MSold
Flags: tax-abated — the bill lags real value. Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).
The abatement clock
This house pays about $7,005/yr under a 10-year tax abatement. In 2029 the bill reaches its full ~$17,513/yr — a step up of $10,508/yr, 2 assessment years out. Drag the slider.
now: ($1,251,100 assessed − $750,671 abated) × 1.3998% ≈ $7,005/yr
2029: $1,251,100 assessed × 1.3998% ≈ $17,513/yr
Flat 100% exemption (pre-2022 program, started 2019), then the cliff — reassessments move both lines. After expiry an owner-occupant can claim the Homestead Exemption (~$1,400/yr off); an abated home can't hold both.
The house, on paper
The city assessor's field record — the physical spec sheet behind the assessed number.
OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.
Run the numbers
What owning 429 S 20th St takes, at your price and your rate. Taxes are this house's actual bill from the city record; rent starts at the area median. Assessed value is not an asking price — set the price slider to the real one.
When this house last sold (2019) a 30-year mortgage ran about 3.94% — Freddie Mac's average that year.
Estimates for orientation, not advice. Assumes a 30-year fixed loan, $1,400/yr insurance, 1% of price/yr maintenance; taxes from this parcel's record (with the abatement toggle above).
Next door: 427 S 20th St · 431 S 20th St
Where this comes from
- Assessment, spec sheet & owner — OPA Property Assessments, Office of Property Assessment
- Sales & deed history — Realty Transfer Tax records, Recorder of Deeds
- Permits, violations & inspections — L&I Property History · Atlas
- Back taxes & liens — Real Estate Tax Balances, Dept. of Revenue
- Zoning appeals — L&I & Zoning Board appeals
- Neighborhood income & rents — US Census ACS 5-year estimates
- Historical mortgage rates — Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, annual averages
- Imagery — Street photo © Google · Aerial © Esri, Maxar
City datasets are fetched live from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and cached briefly. Dossiers re-pull automatically — on view once they're a few weeks old, plus a nightly rolling sweep — and citywide benchmarks recompute weekly; the masthead date is when this page's records were last pulled. AI-written passages are generated from these records only and rejected if they state a number the record doesn't hold.
First time here?
This is 429 S 20th St,
on paper.
Built 1800. Every deed, permit, L&I visit, tax bill and sale for this house — plus its whole block.
No signup, no teaser
The whole record is free.
Who owns what, what they paid, what they built, what they owe. Scroll and it's all here — the paid part is not the data.
Three taps, you're oriented
What to catch on the way down.
On the way down: the story of the house, its paper trail drawn on the value chart, and run-the-numbers, a calculator seeded with this house's actual tax bill.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)